Yes, it was JROTC and not ROTC. (My son is in JROTC. Should have noticed that.)
In that case, I’m betting money that Westmoreland DID talk about West Point. IIRC, Carson is a Harvard grad....some Ivy League grad.
I’m certain he’d have been accepted at West Point, and certainly with Westmoreland’s backing. I wonder if there was ever any other kind of inquiry that became an inquiry about application that was warmly received.
We must remember that Carson was a great student, black, from Detroit, and this would have been right around 1970 or so. He would have been a shoo-in.